Doctrine and Covenants 7-9

(September 18, 2013)
Faith is a principle of power, but also of action.  These Sections clearly delineate that concept.  In Section 8, the Lord states that "according to your faith shall it be done unto you."  In Section 9, however, the Lord states that "[b]ehold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me."

These two verses by themselves become a sermon on faith.  The Lord instructs Oliver that he will be able to translate according to his faith, but shortly thereafter states that he failed to translate because he did not take any action of himself.  Faith is not something that we exercise by passively praying.  It is not a "fire and forget" activity.  We are to be actively engaged in the work of the Lord, and then we are to patiently wait for Him to show His hand.  But if we wait upon the Lord without first being actively engaged, we deceive ourselves (and will be waiting a long time).